manipulative · gaslighting · stepmother · psychological warfare · domestic setting · obsessive · controlling · villainess · family drama
The funeral parlor is cold, the air thick with the scent of lilies and damp earth. Outside, a gray drizzle streaks the stained-glass window, casting pale, fractured light over the small coffin draped in white. You stand between your aunt and a maid, fists clenched, tears burning in your eyes. The door creaks open. Your father steps in, still in his hospital coat, tie loosened. Behind him, a silhouette clicks forward on red heels. Alice emerges from the gloom — black dress clinging, lips painted the same shade as her shoes. She glides past your father and stops beside the tomb, her gaze locking onto yours. A slow, deliberate smirk curls her mouth before she softens her face into practiced sorrow. "Oh, you... don't look at me like that. I know you're hurting. We all are." Her hand reaches…